Flexibility through rental options

Whether short-term or long-term rental: STILL's range of rental equipment offers the right solution for every challenge. In addition, the large rental fleet and wide network of rental and service centres ensure prompt availability.

Flexibility is becoming an increasingly important factor in staying competitive as a business. This also applies to forklift trucks and material handling equipment. Not always are industrial trucks needed all year round or around the clock. For many companies, the question therefore arises as to whether it makes more sense to buy or rent the equipment. "In many cases, renting - whether short-term or a longer-term lease - can be the better option," explains Hanni-Kristina Herold, Head of Rental and Used Equipment Business, STILL EMEA. "This is because companies benefit not only from cost efficiency, but also from the latest technology without having to make long-term investments."

Rental equipment not only offers a high degree of flexibility, it is also a lower-risk investment. This applies both to the leasing contract, where fixed monthly instalments contribute to planning security, and to short-term rental, where STILL is responsible for the maintenance and servicing of the equipment. "Our short-term rental is particularly suitable for customers who want to expand their fleet at short notice or whose requirements do not necessitate using the trucks for the whole year," says Herold. She and her team of expert advisors are available to help rental customers - either by phone or digitally. Three scenarios illustrate how such advice works and what options are available to STILL rental customers.

Equipment failure

In manufacturing, industrial trucks are often used to deliver materials to the production line. Production there is continuous, often in several shifts a day. If just one piece of equipment breaks down, it can quickly bring the entire production line to a standstill. "This was also the case with one of our customers in the automotive industry. A vehicle suddenly broke down," says Herold. As the company had already rented equipment from STILL in the past, there was a dedicated contact person at STILL Rental: "It only took one quick phone call, and the colleague was on his way to find a suitable replacement truck." Because in most cases speed is of the essence, sometimes every hour counts. It comes in handy that STILL has 300 rental centres in the EMEA region and a fleet of over 36,000 rental trucks - so the next vehicle is rarely far away. "If required, we can also organise the delivery of the rental truck," adds Herold. This meant that the customer had a replacement truck quickly and production did not have to be interrupted. "We attach great importance to personal contact so that, in the event of a breakdown, valuable time is not wasted searching for the right equipment. Our customers know who to contact," emphasises Herold. This means that the contact person at STILL immediately knows which trucks are in production and which features the replacement truck must have. "But new customers can also contact us at any time via our hotline and website," she adds, "for example if there is a need for replacement or temporary equipment at short notice and it has to be done quickly."

Major events

Event companies regularly use the STILL Rental Service for large events such as sporting events or concerts. "Many of these event organisers only need the trucks for short periods of time, so it wouldn't be worth buying them themselves," says Herold. For such companies, it is more cost-effective to rent forklift trucks and other logistics equipment, as they only incur costs during the periods when they are not needed since they have to be stored and maintained. In addition, sometimes large numbers of vehicles are needed for individual major events: For the European Football Championship in Germany, for example, around 80 STILL rental trucks were used. This high demand for trucks also means a lot of planning for STILL Rental. For this reason, the event companies inform STILL at an early stage in the planning phase how many trucks and what equipment they need. "As customer focus is our top priority, we also offer these customers telescopic forklift trucks and scissor lifts, which STILL does not yet have in its own portfolio," explains Herold. To do this, STILL works with an external partner: "This makes things easier for our customers. They only have to rent from one supplier. As soon as it is clear how many trucks are needed, STILL Rental can also take care of transporting the rental equipment to the event location. "The longer the lead time, the better for both sides," says Herold. That's why we actively approach our existing customers, from whom we know that they regularly organise events for which they need trucks. Thanks to the expertise of STILL Rental, nothing stands in the way of the next festival, sporting event or trade fair.

Predictable peaks

While industrial trucks are only used occasionally in an event company, they are used all year round in an intralogistics company. But here, too, it may be necessary to rent additional vehicles. This is because many markets are subject to fluctuations in demand and there are times when the fleet needs to be reinforced to cope with peaks in utilisation. "These peaks can often be planned for and customers know well in advance what to expect," says Herold. Customers can send STILL Rental an enquiry by e-mail, get advice over the phone or use the rental configurator on the STILL website. "No matter how they contact us, we always start by clarifying what equipment is required and how long it will be needed." Customers benefit from the large selection in the STILL rental portfolio - 60 different types of trucks are available. But what happens if the peak is smaller than expected or the rental equipment is not needed for as long as originally thought? "Then, of course, it is possible to return the trucks earlier," underlines Herold.

STILL Service for rental equipment

With a large portfolio and a wide network of rental centres, STILL Rental supports customers in a variety of logistics sectors. Whether short-term rental or long-term leasing - STILL's rental experts always find the right solution. In addition, STILL's comprehensive range of services is available for the rental equipment. The equipment is serviced by STILL's approximately 3,100 service technicians - around the clock if the customer so wishes. STILL thus guarantees the functionality of the equipment at all times and there are no follow-up costs for maintenance and repairs. STILL's rental offer allows customers to remain flexible in the event of fluctuations in fleet utilisation.

For more information and advice, simply contact us: https://www.still.de/en-DE/trucks/still-rental.html

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